In India, a governor is the constitutional head of each of the twenty-eight states. The governor is appointed by the President of India for a term of five years, and holds office at the President's pleasure. The governor is de jure head of the state government; all its executive actions are taken in the governor's name. However, the governor must act on the advice of the popularly elected council of ministers, headed by the chief minister, who thus hold de facto executive authority at the state-level. The Constitution of India also empowers the governor to act upon their own discretion, such as the ability to appoint or dismiss a ministry, recommend President's rule, or reserve bills for the President's assent. Over the years, the exercise of these discretionary powers have given rise to conflict between the elected chief minister and the union government–appointed governor.Durga Das Basu. Introduction to the Constitution of India. 1960. 20th edition, 2011 reprint. LexisNexis Butterworths Wadhwa Nagpur. . p. 237, 241–44.
Sarojini Naidu was the first woman to become the governor of an Indian state. She governed Uttar Pradesh from 15 August 1947 to 2 March 1949. Her daughter, Padmaja Naidu, is the longest-serving female governor with almost 11 years tenure in West Bengal. Tamilisai Soundararajan is the recentmost appointment as the first female governor of Telangana. Pratibha Patil and Draupadi Murmu later served as head of the state of India (President of India). States Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Telangana, Tripura, West Bengal doesn't have any woman governor.
Chronological list Key
Incumbent governor
No. Image Name From To Term length State 1 Sarojini Naidu 15 August 1947 2 March 1949 United Provinces 2 Padmaja Naidu 3 November 1956 31 May 1967 West Bengal 3 Vijayalakshmi Pandit 28 November 1962 18 October 1964 Maharashtra 4 Sharda Mukherjee 5 May 1977 14 August 1978 Andhra Pradesh 14 August 1978 5 August 1983 Gujarat 5 Jothi Venkatachalam 14 October 1977 27 October 1982 Kerala 6 Kumudben Joshi 26 November 1985 2 February 1990 Andhra Pradesh 7 Ram Dulari Sinha 23 February 1988 12 February 1990 Kerala 8 Sarla Grewal 31 March 1989 5 February 1990 Madhya Pradesh 9 Sheila Kaul 17 November 1995 23 April 1996 Himachal Pradesh 10 Fathima Beevi 25 January 1997 1 July 2001 Tamil Nadu 11 V. S. Ramadevi 26 July 1997 1 December 1999 Himachal Pradesh 2 December 1999 20 August 2002 Karnataka 12 Pratibha Patil 8 November 2004 23 June 2007 Rajasthan 13 Prabha Rau 19 July 2008 24 January 2010 Himachal Pradesh 25 January 2010 26 April 2010 Rajasthan 14 Margaret Alva 6 August 2009 14 May 2012 Uttarakhand 12 May 2012 7 August 2014 Rajasthan 12 July 2014 7 August 2014 Goa 15 Kamla Beniwal 27 November 2009 6 July 2014 Gujarat 6 July 2014 6 August 2014 Mizoram 16 Urmila Singh 25 January 2010 27 January 2015 Himachal Pradesh 17 Sheila Dikshit 11 March 2014 25 August 2014 Kerala 18 Mridula Sinha 31 August 2014 2 November 2019 Goa 19 Droupadi Murmu 18 May 2015 13 July 2021 Jharkhand 20 Najma Heptulla 21 August 2016 10 August 2021 Manipur 21 Anandiben Patel* 23 January 2018 28 July 2019 Madhya Pradesh"Anandiben Patel sworn in as Madhya Pradesh Governor". The Hindu. 23 January 2018. 15 August 2018 28 July 2019 Chhattisgarh 29 July 2019 Incumbent Uttar Pradesh 22 Baby Rani Maurya 26 August 2018 15 September 2021 Uttarakhand" Baby Rani Maurya sworn in as new Uttarakhand governor". The Economic Times. 26 August 2018. 23 Anusuiya Uikey 29 July 2019 22 February 2023 Chhattisgarh 23 February 2023 26 July 2024 Manipur 24Tamilisai Soundararajan8 September 201918 March 20244 years, 192 daysTelangana
See also
List of female lieutenant governors and administrators in India List of female chief ministers in India List of female deputy chief ministers in India List of female legislative speakers and chairpersons in India List of female opposition leaders in India List of female chief justices in India List of current Indian governors
References